The First Word: Ode to Barbour, ‘Ello to Paul

On this day — we hardly knew ye, Haley Barbour, and as one man exists the GOP presidential race, another enters; Democrats ponder the politics and policy of the Senate budget bill; conservative groups take to the airwaves in Austin slamming Ogden’s budget bill and a Texan is appointed by the MLB to run the Dodgers

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***Paul Jumps in as Barbour Jumps Out

Haley Barbour announced last night that he was getting out of the GOP’s crowded contest for their presidential nomination. The move wasn’t all that surprising Barbour hadn’t been able to gain much traction and wasn’t viewed as a top tier candidate. Meanwhile, Rep. Ron Paul, who’s libertarian bid for the GOP nomination in 2008 raised a lot of money without generating much in the way of Republican primary votes, is expected to announce today that he’s re-exploring getting into the race.

Meanwhile, the conversation about the Republican nomination continues to be dominated by billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, who’s made a name for himself in conservative circles by questioning President Obama’s birth certificate and citizenship. The claims have been thoroughly debunked by various news organizations, most recently by CNN. All of this says something (and nothing good) about how Republican primary voters feel about their current slate of candidates.

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***The Politics of 21

Over the next few days, Senate Democrats are going to have to make the tough choice between blocking the Senate’s budget bill and forcing the budget into a special session or allowing it to come to a vote on the floor.

If they vote to bring it up for a vote, they could be seen as supporting a budget that would lay off 35,000 school district employees and cutting Texas’ meager safety net — it’s vote that could make them vulnerable to primary challenge in 2012.

However, if they block the bill, which would effectively force a special session, they could lose the leverage that the Senate’s two-thirds rule provides them in the debate since the two-thirds rule doesn’t apply in special sessions. That could allow Republicans to ram HB1, which contains much deeper cuts to the programs that Democrats want to protect, through the Senate.

There’s nothing to say that Senate Republicans will find a vote for House Bill 1 anymore more palatable than their Democratic counterparts. Conservative Senators, such as Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, has said that he believes that the Rainy Day Fund will have to be tapped again to lessen the House’s proposed cuts.

While Texas suburbs have a conservative tinge to them that’s somewhat uncommon in the national political average (where they are the place where elections are frequently lost and won), polling suggest there’s little appetite in these districts for the magnitude of cuts proposed by the House.

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***Budget War Hits Airwaves

A group of conservative, anti-tax, groups — led by the Texas Public Policy Foundation — have taken to the airwaves to campaign against the Senate Finance Committee’s budget proposal. The ad asks for the Senate to pass a budget that doesn’t use additional money from the Rainy Day Fund and doesn’t raise fees or other ‘non-tax’ revenue.

The interesting twist to all this — former Rep. Talmidge Helfin, the TPPF’s point man on budget issues, was chairman of the House budget writing committee in 2003, when the budget shortfall was closed, in part, with massive hikes in fees and tuition deregulation.

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***State Employees Could Bolt Over Cuts

While most state employees don’t earn as much as their private sector counterparts do, they’ve opted to work for state government because of the job security and more generous benefit packages. On average they earn about $39,000 per year and more than 80 percent take home less than $50,000. Now that the budget axe may result in thousands of layoffs as well as massive cuts to retirement and benefits packages — state employees say they’re ready to bolt the public sector; the Statesman’s Kate Alexander reports:

About 57 percent of the respondents eligible for retirement said they would jump ship in the wake of pay cuts, increases in health insurance costs and other benefit changes now under consideration by lawmakers.

Among those respondents not of retirement age, nearly one-third said they would look for work outside of state government. Another 28 percent would wait until the economy improves and then bolt.

“There is no questioning how strongly employees feel about this,” said Gary Anderson, executive director of the public employees association. “We have to be realistic. It will have an impact.”

– The AP’s Jim Vertuno reports on an effort in the Texas Senate to roll back the rights of transgendered individuals to obtain marriage licenses, which they can currently receive if marrying someone of the opposite sex.